The present invention relates to a gas-liquid separator and an inkjet recording apparatus using the gas-liquid separator.
JP-A-2009-172932 as background of the relevant technical field discloses an inkjet recording apparatus of continuous type configured to charge only particles of ink ejected through a nozzle for printing using a charged electrode, deflect a flight direction of the charged ink particles using the deflection electrode for printing, and recover the ink particles unused for printing through suction by the gutter so as to be used for printing again. Upon suction of the ink particles for recovery, the gutter suctions air around the ink particles together. The suctioned air is continuously fed into the ink container, thus requiring the structure for discharging such air to the outside of the ink container.
JP-A-2003-4343 discloses the air conditioning apparatus provided with the air-liquid separator including the casing, the gas-liquid 2-phase flow inlet pipe that allows inflow of the refrigerant as the gas-liquid 2-phase flow as a result of mixing the gas and liquid phases, the liquid outlet pipe for discharging the liquid phase of the refrigerant, and the gas outlet pipe for discharging the gas phase of the refrigerant. Those pipes are connected to openings formed in a wall of the casing, respectively.
For example, the inkjet recording apparatus of continuous type as disclosed in JP-A-2009-172932 is configured that the gutter suctions the ink particles for recovery together with peripheral air. In the ink recovery path where the ink and air are flowing simultaneously, the solvent component contained in the ink is volatilized, and dissolved in air to form saturated solvent gas. The solvent gas is discharged from the ink container to the outside of the apparatus, which makes a density of the ink in the ink container high by the degree corresponding to volatilization volume of the solvent component in the ink recovery path. In order to prevent deterioration in the printing quality owing to change in the ink density, the ink container is configured to replenish the solvent by quantity corresponding to the volatilized solvent component in the ink recovery path. Volatilization of the solvent component of the ink is facilitated as the temperature inside the main body of the apparatus becomes higher. This may lead to deterioration in the running cost of the inkjet recording apparatus of the customer. The gas-liquid separator disclosed in JP-A-2003-4343 has a problem of failing to perform the gas-liquid separation upon change in its set-up direction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces the solvent consumption in operation using the gas-liquid separator which can be set up in an arbitrary direction.